Conference
Measuring progress and welfare: interdisciplinary themes and new policy fields

Andrea Calori

February 20th, 2009, 14:30, Keynes Hall, School of Economics, University of Coimbra

Co-organized by the Doctoral Programmes "Democracy in the 21st Century", "Postcolonialisms and Global Citizenship" and "Governance, Knowledge, and Innovation"

Presentation
Modernity is characterized by faith in the course of progress that, in some historical phases, assumed, inclusively an almost messianic character, as to the possibility of conveying to all of humanity constantly improved forms of welfare.
This idea is based on the conviction that progress and development could coincide, and did, with growth; understood as the progressive quantitative increase of wealth, population, acquisitions, technology, services, etc.; and synthetically measurable as the increase of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This perspective had such a diffusion that it ended falling upon the entire planet, harbouring the idea that growth could be a perspective attainable also through the redefinition of the North south relations through new forms of colonization.
Even considering this worldly dimension, on the contrary, it progressively moved towards the discussion – and, afterwards, crisis – this coincidence between progress, development and growth.
On one hand, knowledge of the delicate balance of ecosystems, demonstrated, some time ago, how chance of an unlimited growth is incompatible with the limitations of physical resources. On the other hand, the increase of interdependence with cultures different from those holding a modern and Eurocentric matrix, surfaced acknowledgment  that welfare can be generated through mechanisms separate from the dynamics of growth and that, nonetheless, also derives from a complexity of factors non reducible merely to the GDP.
This change in perspective raises radical problems to the nature of public policies, political agendas and also to techniques. Amongst the latter they acquire great relevance to activities tied to the measuring of the components of progress, development and welfare: to asses the relations between these components means defining socially, interpreting adequately, the dynamics in action and compiling choices that may also be different from those that lead modernity. In this phase of global uncertainty as to the future of development, this seminar aims to bring some contributions that conjugate research activities, social network practices and transformation processes of great international institutions such as OECD, UN and the council of Europe.

Biographic Notes
Andrea Calori is Professor of Spatial Planning and local Development at Polytechnic of Milan and has come to work, since the early 90’s on local development and self-sustainable policies. In this field he has developed in Italy and abroad skills in citizen participation and institutional negotiations and development of policies characterized by approaches guided by principles of solidarity economics principles. In this thematic he has worked as much in the field as in theoretical and methodological researches with social and economic actors and networks as well as several institutions at  different levels (local authorities, regions national governments, OECD, European Commission, Council of Europe, FAO, etc.).